Mulago can’t do heart surgery yet Kenya, Rwanda, TZ can

Jun 20, 2006

Eighty percent of heart patients in Uganda die because they don’t have sh25m to fly to India for heart surgery. And these ‘80%’ are not figures; they are people.

By Harriette A. Onyalla
Eighty percent of heart patients in Uganda die because they don’t have sh25m to fly to India for heart surgery. And these ‘80%’ are not figures; they are people.
If you have watched helplessly as your beloved child dies slowly, day by day, life draining out with every heartbeat, you know the pain of the 80%. Many parents whose children wonder why they cannot play with friends, whose dreams will never be and the people sitting on the rows of benches at Uganda Heart Institute (UHI) on the ground floor of Mulago Hospital, Kampala, are right to ask the question: If all our neighbouring countries have heart machines, why not Uganda?
At Mulago, doctors can only treat minor conditions. They diagnose major conditions and refer them to other countries that have surgery equipment.
Dr. John Omagino, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and deputy director of UHI, says Rwanda operated on its first group of heart patients about a month ago. Sudan, Tanzania and DR Congo have equipment!
According to Dr. Koome Mwiraria, a cardiology and internal medicine consultant at Nairobi Cardiac Rehab Centre, there are three hospitals in Kenya with heart surgery equipment.
“The open and closed heart surgery programmes are available for both children and adults at Kenyatta Hospital, Nairobi Hospital and Mater Hospital,” Mwiraria says.
Omagino knows this and last year, a team of heart specialists from UHI participated in programmes in Mater Hospital, which is funded by the Italian government. Another team went for the pioneer surgeries in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, early this year.
So why does Mulago send patients to Madras Medical Mission in India, where the cost of a heart operation is $14,700 (about sh25m)?
“The amount can increase depending on the patient’s condition and response to treatment,” Omagino says.
In Nairobi, however, treatment ranges from sh7m to sh18m. This includes treatment, transport and accommodation.
Mwiraria confirms that they correct heart defects for children from birth and all forms of adult surgeries including valves, heart defects and bypass. He says post-operative cardiac rehabilitation to restore a patient’s state of health is also available in Nairobi.
Currently, Mwiraria says, there is a donor-funded heart surgery programme at Mater that caters for all children in Kenya and the surrounding region, including Uganda.
“This programme has been running for the past 10 years and 450 children below 18 years have been successfully operated,” he says.
The donor contributes Ksh400,000 (Ush10m) towards surgery, while the patient contributes any exceeding amount. It covers charges accrued from the time of admission to the time of discharge from the hospital.
Omagino says UHI learnt of this programme just recently and thus none of the Ugandan patients have benefited from the scheme.
He says they give patients all options available and they choose which hospital to go to.
“Because Kenya’s institutions have only recently acquired the heart equipment, we tell the patients this because in medical practice, one would be more comfortable with experience. The Indian hospitals have perfected their routine after having carried out the surgeries for long. By law, we are obligated to give patients this information so that they can make their choice,” he says.
Omagino nevertheless recommends Nairobi because over time, its work has built confidence in people.
So, I ask, why don’t we have heart equipment in Uganda?
“I am tired of answering that question,” he replies. The President has asked me that question several times. We have given Government a proposal on the costs of equipment. If we were doing this step by step, we would have a complete surgery unit by now.”
Ends

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